Fabric slitting and rolling machine



Dec. 22, 1942. w. H, SHIELDS FABRIC SLITTING AND ROLLING MACHINE 5Sheefs-Sheet .l

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w. H. SHIELDS FABRIC SLITTING AND ROLLING MACHINE Filed March 11, 1942 5Sh'eets Sheet 4 rm 5 q k o e .vam 5 {IS W KH .O l 0 W Dec. 22, 1942. w.H.$H|ELD FABRIC SLITTING AND ROLLING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FiledMarch 11, 1942 \hve, I '12 Wanda H. Shidds Afiomebg Patented Dec. 22,1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE 2,305,997 FABRIC SLITTING AND ROLLINGMACHINE Wendell H. Shields, Grand Rapids, Mich. Application March 11,1942, Serial No. 434,261

18 Claims. (01. 164-61) I This invention relates to cloth processingmachines and more particularly to a machine for slitting tubular clothand rolling it in a flat single thickness condition.

In the manufacture of cloth the fabric is sometimes knit or woven mostexpeditiously in the form of a tube. The tubular form is also moreeasily handled in some of the processing operations. It is frequentlydesirable to merchandise this cloth in aflat single thickness condition.

The primary purpose of this invention is to slit a tube of cloth and tospread this cloth to a flat single thickness and to roll it intosuitable rolls for merchandising or handling.

Another object-of the invention is to provide 1 means by which therelative speeds that the cloth is fed into th machine and taken out ofthe machine may be regulated so as to thereby control the tension on thecloth as it passes through the machine. machine may be adjusted tohandle various widths of cloth.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby thecutting disk may be moved to an out of the way position while th loth isthreaded through the machine. A still further provision is made for thesteaming of the cloth before it is rolled into the roll in a singlethickness condition.

Several other objects and purposes, with the novel construction andarrangement of parts for obtaining the same, will be apparent as anunderstanding of the invention is had from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine'made in conformity with thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the cloth slitting and feedingportions of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section along line 44 of Fig. 3, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of the slitting disk and adjacentparts.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 6-6 of Fig. 3,looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. '7 is a vertical sectional view taken along I line 1-1 of Fig. 1,looking in the direction of the machine, and

Provisions are also made whereby the the slitting disk and 2 betweenwhich extend the horizontal stretcher 3 and the'horizontal rods 4.Attached to these standards I and 2 are thebearing guides 5 and 6 whichin turn support the members 7 and 8. These members'l and 8 are providedwith sockets for receiving and supporting the vertical front frame posts9 and I0. Vertical posts II are provided at the rear corners of themachine and the horizontal bars I2 extend between the posts II and thestandards I and 2. Other bars I3 are located at the upper corners of themachine and extend between the vertical posts 9 and I 0 and the verticalposts II. Bars I4 are provided at the upper forward and rear corners ofthe framework and extend between the posts 9 and I0 and also between thetwo posts I I. A pair of parallel horizontal tubes, I5 are attached to'the vertical posts 9 and II] by suitable brackets I5a and IE1).

by means of suitable brackets in substantially the same plane as thetubes i5 and extend between the two posts I I at the rear of themachine.

Two bearings I! are mounted on the bars I4 upon which the roll offlattened tubular cloth I8 is rotatably mounted. Another pair ofbearings I9 are also mounted on the bars IA which rotatably support theguide roller 20 over which the cloth moves as it is drawn through themachine.

After the cloth passes the guide roller 2E3 it moves into a mechanismwhich holds it while itis being slit along one edge. This structure issupported. on two supporting members 2| and 22. The member 2| is mountedon the parallel tubes I5 and the member 22 is mounted on the paralleltubes I6. These members 2I and 22 are rigidly fastened to theirrespective parallel tubes. Hollow rods 23 ,are rigidly supported betweenthe supporting members 2| and 22.upon which a carriage is slidablymounted. This carriage comprises bearing members 24 and 25 which areheld spaced from each other by means of the stretcher rods 26 and areslidably mounted on the rods 23 for adjustment for various widths ofcloth. The carriage is held in its various adjustable positions by adownwardly extending ear 25a into which a. screw-threaded shaft 21 isthreaded. The shaft 2! extends to the rear of the machine where it isjournaled in thesupporting member 22 being held from endwise movement bycollars 29, and has a hand wheel 28 attached.

Two closely associated rollers 39 and 3| extend between the bearingmembers 24 and 25 of the carriage. Gears 32 and 33 are attached to theends of the rollers 38 and 3| so that these rollers will rotatetogether. The roller 38 is provided with a shaft 39a which is journaledin the bearing members 24 and 25 and the roller 3| is mounted on agrooved shaft 34 and is provided with a spline which fits into thegroove of the shaft. The shaft 34 extends through the bearing members 24and 25 and also extends through and is journaled in the supportingmembers 2| and 22 near its respective ends, being provided at itsforward end with a pulley 3! and at its rear end with a collar 36 whichprevents endwise movement of the shaft. The shaft 39a projects beyondthe bearing member 25 and is provided with a pulley 39 and a belt 49passes aroundthis pulley and also around the guide roller 29 causing itto rotate simultaneously with the roller 30.

A bracket 4| is mounted on the bearing member 24 and a grooved pulley 42is rotatably mounted at the upper end thereof. A wire guard 43 is alsomounted on this bracket 4| where it is attached by the screw 44. Thiswire guard consists primarily of a return bent portion forming verticalspaced legs 45. These legs are for the purpose of holding the cloth inthe path of the rotating knife as it cuts the folded edge of'the cloth.A supporting bracket 46 is attached to and extends upwardly from theupper side of the bearing member 25 and has an opening through which arod 41 is slidably mounted. The inner end of the rod 41 is bifurcated toreceive the grooved pulley 48. bracket 46 holds the rod 41 to itsadjusted position.

A spreader 50 is provided to be inserted into the tube of fabric and tobe located immediately above the rollers 3| and 38. This spreadercomprises a lower horizontal bar and an archshaped stiff wire member 52extending upwardly from the bar and having one of its ends directlyattached to it. The other end of the arch member 52 terminates in a pairof spaced legs 53 and 55 joined by the cross member 54, the leg 55 beingattached to the bar 5|. These spaced legs 53 and 55 straddle the edge ofthe cutting disk 56 which extends between them so that it may operateupon the cloth as it passes over the spreader.

The cutting disk 56 is fixed to the shaft of a motor 51 which is mountedon the bearing member 24 by means of the hinged members 58. The motorand disk are hingedly mounted so that the cutting disk may be moved outof the way while the spreader and cloth are being put into the machine.

A pair of brackets 59 are attached to and extend rearwardly from thebearing guides 5 and 6 and an inverted V-shaped or triangular fiattenermember 60 is pivotally attached at its base thereto by means of themembers 6| which are pivotally mounted on the brackets 59 and areattached to the flattener 60. The apex or upper end of the spreader 60is supported by a rod 62 which is pivotally attached to the fiattener at63. The

forward end of the rod 62 is screw-threaded and passes through thebracket 64 and the internally threaded hand wheel screws on to the outerend of the rod 62 and bears against the bracket 64 to adjust the apex ofthe fiattener relative'to the rollers 38 and 3|. A basket 66 havingarms61 A thumb screw 49 in the is hung on the rod 62 to receive the strip offabric separated from the tube during the slitting operation.

A roller 68 on a shaft 69 journaled in the brackets 59 having a sprocketI9 at its outer end is provided to support the cloth in its flattenedcondition as it passes under the lower straight edge of the fiattener68. An idler roller II on a shaft I2 which is freely rotatably mountedin the brackets 59 holds the cloth against the lower edge of thefiattener 68 and transmits it to the adjacent rollers.

A steam pipe 13 having openings in its top side extends across themachine between the bearing guides 5 and 6 at the rear of a roller I5and is for the purpose of injecting steam into the cloth at this point.

After leaving the roller II the flattened cloth extends over and underrollers I5, I6 and 11 which are in the same horizontal plane. Theserollers are each covered with a fabric 18 which is padded as at I9 andare respectively mounted on shafts 80, 8| and 82. Attached to each ofsaid shafts are the intermeshing gears 83, 84 and 85 which causesimultaneous rotation of the rollers. The shafts 80, 8| and 82 arejournaled at each end in bearing blocks 86, 8'! and 88, respectively.The two rollers I6 and TI are held with a small space between them bythe screw-threaded stud 89 between the bearing blocks 81 and 88 andscrewed into one of them. The rollers I5 and 16 are yieldably heldseparated by a spring 90 between the bearing blocks 86 and 8'! and thespace between them is adjusted by screws 9| passing through the end ofeach of the bearing guides 5 and 6 and abutting against the bearingblocks 88.

Inclined supporting arms 92 are attached to each of the bearing guides 5and 6 and extend forwardly and upwardly from the machine. A rod 93 rollson the arms 92 and the cloth is rolled in flat condition on the rod. Thecontact of the outer surface of the roll of cloth against the roller 11causes the roll of cloth to rotate and as the roll becomes larger therod 93 advances outwardly on the arms 92.

A motor 94 mounted on a pivoted platform 95 attached to the standard Idrives the machine. This motor has a pulley 96 which drives a stub shaft9'! through the belt 98 and the clutching mechanism 99. The clutchingmechanism is operated by the lever I00. The stub shaft 91 carries apinion I02 meshing with a gear I83 which is attached to the shaft 80 onwhich the roller I5 is mounted. The roller 68 is driven from the shaft80 by a sprocket I85 and a chain I96 passing around sprocket I05 and asprocket I8 on shaft 69.

The rollers 38 and 3| are driven at speeds variable to the speed of therollers 75, I6 and I1 by a sprocket I91 on the driven shaft 80 andanother sprocket I88 on the shaft I I 0 which is driven from sprocket I9'! by chain I89. The sprocket I08 is attached to the end of shaft III),which is rotatably mounted in a bearing bracket |I0a attached to theframe post III. The inner end of the shaft H8 has a splined andtelescoping connection with the hub III of a bevel gear 2 driven fromthe shaft II!) and in turn drives a bevel gear II3 mounted on a shortshaft 4 mounted in a sliding bracket II8. This shaft II4 also hasattached a pulley II5 which drives the grooved shaft 34 through the beltI I6 and the split V-pulley 31.

The bracket H8 is slidably mounted on the tubes I5 and is moved by theadjusting rod II! commod ate different widths of cloth by manipulationof the hand wheel'28. This adjustment screwed into the bracket at oneend and having 'its other end rotatably secured at I IE to the frame ofthe machine. A hand wheel I20 on the rod H1 serves-to rotate the rod andto slide the bracket on the tubes l5.

The pulley 37 which drives the grooved shaft 35 is split in a plane atright angles to its axis and the two halves are pressed together by aspring 370.. This type of pulley for providing a variable speed drive iswell known in the art. The V-belt H6 rides in the V-groove of the pulleywhich is formed between the two separable parts. The parts are movedtogether by the spring 310. as

' closely as the tension on the belt I It will permit In the operationof the machine a roll of flattened tubular cloth is located in theroller supports The cloth is passed over the roller 2i] and downwardlyover the spreader 50. The cloth and spreader will be located properly bythe grooved disks 42 and 48 which engage the edges of the flattenedtube. The cloth passes between the rollers 36 and 3! which grip it andfeedit downwardly, the cloth being held flatly in its double thicknesscondition until it passes through these rollers. As the cloth passes thecutting disk 56 the vertical fingers Q5 of the wire guard will hold thecloth in the path of the cutter so that a small strip of cloth will becut from one edge. The point of the V-shaped flattener is locatedimmediately below the rollers 38 and SI and is also located inside andat the fold of the cloth. As the cloth passes downwardly it passes underthe flattener and is spread to a flat single thickness and then movesbeyond the lower straight edge of the flattener in this condition.Before the cloth moves on to the roll 15 steam is injected into it fromthe pipe 13 to aid in removing wrinkles as it passes over the subsequentrollers.

From the lower edge of the flattener 60 the cloth passes over the idlerroll II and over and under the rollers l5, l6 and IT which are drivenand which drive the cloth at this finishing end of the machine andflatten it removing wrinkles and creases. From the roller 11 the clothis wrapped around the rod 83 and is formed in a roll on the rod beingrotated by contact with the cloth roll with the surface of the roller71.

The cloth is driven at two locations on the machine, at its entrance endby the rollers 39 and 3| and at the finishing end by the rollers l5, l6and H. The latter rollers are driven at a fixed rate of speed but thespeed of the rollers 30 and 3| may be varied as described and therebythe tension on the cloth between the two sets of driving rollers can bevaried and can be caused to pass through the machine in a loosecondition or it can be stretched if desired and this variation may beadjusted while the machine is operating by manipulation of the handwheel I20 which moves the bracket I [8.

The position of the flattener 50 is substantially fixed transversely ofthe machine but the carriage carrying the rollers 30 and 3| and thecutter 56 may be moved relative to the flattener to acgoverns theposition of the cutter relative to the edge of the flattened tube andcontrols the width of the strip of cloth which is cutfrom the in theslitting operation. The other adjustments which have been tube pro-

vided produce the obvious results for which they are intended.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be consideredcomprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A machine of the class described comprising, means for continuouslyfeeding tubular fabric through the machine, means for slitting one sideof said tube, a flattening device comprising a V- shaped frame havingits apex located inside the tube adjacent the side opposite to thatwhich has been slit and lying in a plane angular to-the path of thefabric at the point where it is slit, and

'means for varying the location of the slitting means in a directiontransverse to the fabric and relative to the apex of the flatteningdevice.

2. The elements in combination defined in claim 1 in which the fabricenters the machine in flattened tubular condition and said slittingmeans operates adjacent one edge of the flattened tube. 3. The elementsin combination defined in claim '1 combined with means located withinthe tube for spreading it into flattened condition adjacent saidslitting means.

' '4. A machine of the class described comprising, means for slittingone side of a tubular fabric, means adjacent the slitting means forcontinuously driving the fabric, means following said driving means tospread the fabric into flat single thickness conditiommeans followingsaid spreading means for continuously driving the fabric, means fordriving both of said driving means and means for varyingthe relativespeeds of said driving means. I

5. The elements in combination defined by claim 4 in which saidspreading means comprises an inverted V-shaped'frame having its apexwithin the tube adjacent the side opposite to that which has been-slitand lying in a plane inclined to the path of the fabric at the pointwhere it has been slit.

6. A machine of the class described comprising, a pair of driving rollsbetween which flattened tubular fabric passes, means located ahead ofsaid driving rolls for slitting said fabric adjacent one flattened edgeof the tube, a flattening device comprising an inverted V-shaped framehaving its apex located adjacent said rolls and within the tube adjacentthe side opposite to that which has been slit, a second set of feedingrolls located at a position following said flattening device betweenwhich the flattened single thickness fabric passes and means for drivingsaid respective sets of driving rolls.

7. The elements in combination defined b'y claim 6 in which the meansfor driving said respectivea slitting device mounted on said carriageadapted to slit said flattened tube near one of its edges, means mountedon said carriage for guiding the movement of said flattened tube in adirection parallel to the axes of said rollers, an inverted V-shapedflattening device having its apex adjacent said rollers within said tubeopposite the edge which has been slit, and means for adjusting saidcarriage and the means mounted thereon relative to the apex of saidflattening device in a direction parallel to the axes of said rollers.

10. The elements in combination defined in claim 9 combined withadditional driving rollers at a location following said flatteningdevice between which the flattened single thickness fabric passes andmeans for driving both of said sets of driving rollers at variablerelative speeds.

11. A machine of the class described comprising, a pair of drivingrollers between which flattened tubular fabric passes, means locatedahead of said driving rollers for slitting said fabric adjacent one edgeof the flattened tube, a flattening device located at a positionfollowing said driving rollers comprising an inverted V-shaped framehaving its apex locatedadjacent said rollers and within the tubeopposite the edge which has been slit and lying in a plane inclined tothe axes of said rollers and means for varying the inclination of theplane of the flatteningdevice.

12. The elements in combination defined in claim 11 combined with thesecond set of driving rollers located in a position following saidflattening device and between which the flattened single thicknessfabric passes and means for driving thesame.

13. The elements in combination defined in claim 11 combined with thesecond set of driving rollers located in a position followingsaid'flattening device and between which the flattened single thicknessfabric passes and means for driving both sets of driving rollers atvarying relative speeds.

14. A machine of the class described comprising, means for passingflattened tubular fabric continuously through the machine, means forcutting a narrow strip of fabric from one edge of the fiattened tube asit passes through the machine, and means for spreading the fabric to aflat single thickness.

15. A machine of the class described comprising, means for passingtubular fabric continuously through the machine, means for slitting aside of said tubular fabric, a V-shaped frame having its apex locatedwithin the :tube and means for passing the fabric past the base of theframe for flattening the fabric.

16. The elements in combination defined in claim 15 in which saidslitting means operates adjacent an edge of the flattened tube and theapex of the V-shaped frame is located adjacent the opposite edge of thetube.

17. The elements in combination defined in claim 15 in which saidslitting means operates adjacent an edge of the flattened tube and theapex of the V-shaped frame is located adjacent the opposite edge of thetube and said frame lies in a plane inclined to the path of the fabricat the point where it is slit.

18. The elements in combination defined by claim 4 in which saidspreading means comprises an inverted V-shaped frame having its apexwithin the tube adjacent the side opposite to that which has been slitand lying in a plane inclined to the path of the fabric at the pointwhere it has been slit and means to vary the inclination of the plane ofthe V-shaped frame.

WENDELL H. SHIELDS.

